Have a Great Memorial Day Weekend

The weather is getting warm so this is a weekend to get your barbecues out, your pools open, and your summer spirit in motion.

And while you're having fun marking the beginning of summer. Don't forget the spirit of the holiday and remember all the men and women in the Armed Forces who gave their lives so we can enjoy things like this.

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend and we'll see you next week here at the new and improved Astron Blog!

-Andrew

Astron Blog and Personal Websites

We have a new website design here. For some reason our old one just went kaput when Blogger moved over to a new design system. Sorry about any problems you may have been having, but hopefully they're all fixed now. It should be clean and easy to navigate and, hopefully, easy to read as well. Let Jennifer or myself know if you're still having any issues.

Speaking of websites, they can be a great way, for a candidate of getting your name out there on the internet. Showing that you have designed a website (and maybe putting some of your interests on there) can be a living resume out there on the internet. When I Googled "Jennifer Loftus", one of the hits that came back was her website she made in 2006. One of my friends was able to build a website which is a very cool online portfolio of her work. When done right, a website can be a great tool for a job seeker and a great way to have a Google search come back with more than a Facebook or LinkedIn profile.

But done poorly, a website can be a bad thing for a candidate to have out there. Like Facebook, Twitter or MySpace profiles should not have compromising pictures or text, so shouldn't a personal website. I recently heard from a friend that they were in the middle of the interview process with a candidate when they decided to Google their name. The result returned a website. One section on the website was pictures full of the candidate partying. Another had "life goals", which, while sounding promising, had such lofty goals as "partying with P. Diddy" and "sleeping with a celebrity". Not exactly the type of information that gets you hired.

It can be a good idea to make a personal website, but as everything you put out there on the World Wide Web, make sure it's appropriate and professional. You never know who will see it someday.

Astronology - How to Deal:Office Disputes

Astronology Volume XI Issue 6   May 18, 2010 Dear Andrew, Astron Solutions provides high-quality, low-cost, innovative human resources consulting services to organizations like yours. Call us for advice, innovative program design, and user-friendly Web/PC based software.   Fact or Fiction There are only three words in the English language that end with the letters - mt. FACT! The words dreamt, adreamt, and undreamtare the only words that end with the letters -mt. Hopefully your organization's employees are working efficiently and effectively, leaving their dreaming for time at home!   How to Deal: Office Disputes One of the most feared days has come for you as a manager or human resource professional. A dispute has landed in your office. It's between two employees, or worse yet, between a manager and an employee. It's a natural inclination to want to solve the issue rather quickly, or to shoulder the mediating activities onto someone else. However, it is more practical to resolve the issue and simultaneously take preventative steps to assure that such disputes stay at a minimum in the future, if they happen at all. This week, Astronology continues our new How To Deal series with the topic of Office Disputes....more   Have a Question? If you have a topic you would like addressed in Astronology, or some feedback on a past article, don't hesitate to tell us!  Simply reply to this e-mail.  See your question answered, or comments addressed, in an upcoming issue of Astronology. Looking for a top-notch presenter for your human resource organization's meeting?  Both Jennifer Loftus and Michael Maciekowich present highly-rated sessions on a variety of compensation and employee retention issues.  For more information, send an e-mail to info@astronsolutions.com.   The Fine Print We hold your e-mail address in trust.  Astron Solutions promises never to share or rent your personal information.  We also promise never to send you frivolous e-mails and will allow you to leave our list, at your option, at any time. To remove yourself from this list, please follow your personalized subscriber link at the bottom of your Astronology alert e-mail. Copyright 2010, Astron Solutions, LLC ISSN Number 1549-0467 Quick Links Client List Meet the Astron Team Contact Us   World of HR Blog Bringing you Human Resource news from around the globe...compliments of Astron Solutions. More

 

Business Trip Layover

On the way to a conference, I figured it was a good time to post a blog post. As a young associate (and therefore a newbie when it comes to business trips) heading alone on a business trip, the rules of how to handle yourself are sometimes confusing. Freedom with an expense account is sometimes a freedom that needs to be reigned in.

How much can one spend on a meal? Is it ok to invite other associates out with you and pay for them? If one transportation option is more convenient but more expensive how do you handle that? If you are not given a company credit card, how much is too much money to say you don't feel comfortable putting it on your card? If they do not have a company blackberry, how often is appropriate/expected to check in via e-mail or phone? And what type of outside of business activities qualify as a business expense--and which ones are prohibited all together?

Human Resources and other groups within your organization should set rules to deal with this situation. No associate should feel uncomfortable because they feel they can't charge an expense to the company or they don't feel OK putting a charge on a personal card. Also, setting a clear, quick reimbursement process is necessary. It can be a fun, exciting, educational, and career growing experience to get to travel as a young associate, but an organization has the duty to make sure expectations are clearly set before an employee ever takes off.

-Andrew

Giving Back as a Company

One of the nicest things that my company does is a month of giving back to the community. They help build houses, paint a community center, provide food and other supplies to homeless and battered women shelters, and volunteer with kids. It's a company-organized month of events that begins with a kick-off event sponsored by the leadership team.

Part of the greatness of this month is the ability to give back to the community. It's an easy way to gain goodwill and brand recognition in the area and to give back. And part of the greatness certainly has to do with allowing employees time off to do activities like this. While most of the time, taking off a day to help build a house for Habitat for Humanity (or a similar group) would seem like an odd request of free time, this month allows employees to take off this time guilt free.

There are only two issues that arise from this that Human Resources needs to be aware of to make sure this is a great month for everyone involved. First, make sure that managers aren't going to make employees feel guilty for taking off the time. You cannot say that they are supposed to participate out of one mouth but then tell them they are missing too much work out of another. And second, you need to make sure the charities chosen are ones that make everyone comfortable contributing. Religiously affiliated groups or environments where it may be potentially dangerous for employees is not one you want to be mandating employees go to. And lastly you need to make sure that this volunteering is just that--voluntary. Employees should be encouraged to participate but cannot be punished or looked down upon if they choose not to (especially if the event has any monetary element).

If done right, this type of month can be one that not only allows the company and their employees to give back, but can boost employee morale quite a bit by allowing them to do something nice for others in the community. I'm certainly looking forward to it.


-Andrew

Happy Birthday to Jennifer

She may be absent from the blog for a while, but the reason this blog even exists is Jennifer and it's her birthday today. So join me in wishing her a very happy birthday! She puts a smile on all of our faces so hopefully today, she's all smiles as well. And she's a great boss. In her honor, we have 4 great links for you:

First, we head out of the United States for David Duarte's best Out of Office messages (H/T Wendy). Now by "best" I don't mean best for your employees to use at work...I mean best as in funniest. Let's hope that you've never e-mailed an employee and had any of these bounce back at you in your Outlook inbox.

FoundValue has 10 jobs that they promise are better than yours. Are they right in that assumption that these are dream jobs compared to the ones you currently hold?

Yahoo! hotjobs and Forbes have the worst words to say at work. I caught myself saying to someone "I'll try to get back to you sometime soon," and quickly reversed that course of action after reading that list.

Lastly, Yahoo! News has the story of how much people will pay...to work for free! On Monday, we'll look at an article from the New York Times which debates if that's legal or not (the working for free as part of a internship part...not the ridiculous auctioning)

Astronology - How to Deal:Difficult Leaders

Astronology Volume XI Issue 5   May 4, 2010 Dear Andrew, Astron Solutions provides high-quality, low-cost, innovative human resources consulting services to organizations like yours. Call us for advice, innovative program design, and user-friendly Web/PC based software.   Fact or Fiction The proper pronunciation of the last name Dr. Seuss is "S-OO-S".   FICTION! Theodor Seuss Geisel was born in Massachusetts to German immigrant parents. As such, he grew up pronouncing his German name "SOYCE."   Something to consider as we reflect on the diversity of names in our own workplaces!   The Astron Road Show   From May 10th - 12th, National Director Jennifer Loftus finds herself at the 2010 Cement Employers Association annual conference. Boston is the host city for this year's conference. Jennifer will present twice, speaking on Astron's work on this year's CEA compensation survey, and "Why Do I Want to Stay Here? Post-Recession Talent Management Challenges and Retention Strategies." Then, on May 14th, Jennifer guest lectures at the Pace University course Total Rewards: Compensation, Benefits, and Culture. Jennifer will present on trends in variable compensation. For more information on the class, which provides HRCI approved recertification credits, please visit Pace's website.   How to Deal: Difficult Leaders Office morale is low, and productivity is at a constant, sub par level. The atmosphere in the organization is that of sheer terror and dissatisfaction, not because of a near miss deadline, but because a supervisor has an overly authoritative approach to leading his team....more   Have a Question? If you have a topic you would like addressed in Astronology, or some feedback on a past article, don't hesitate to tell us!  Simply reply to this e-mail.  See your question answered, or comments addressed, in an upcoming issue of Astronology. Looking for a top-notch presenter for your human resource organization's meeting?  Both Jennifer Loftus and Michael Maciekowich present highly-rated sessions on a variety of compensation and employee retention issues.  For more information, send an e-mail to info@astronsolutions.com.   The Fine Print We hold your e-mail address in trust.  Astron Solutions promises never to share or rent your personal information.  We also promise never to send you frivolous e-mails and will allow you to leave our list, at your option, at any time. To remove yourself from this list, please follow your personalized subscriber link at the bottom of your Astronology alert e-mail. Copyright 2010, Astron Solutions, LLC ISSN Number 1549-0467 Quick Links Client List Meet the Astron Team Contact Us   World of HR Blog Bringing you Human Resource news from around the globe...compliments of Astron Solutions. More

                                                                                             

The Health Assessment

In 2008 our company instituted a new policy: every employee would have to go a health assessment to determine if they were going to have to pay a premium on their health insurance. The first year was a base year, but as long as the employee showed upward progress or scored above a certain amount, they were given the "subsidizied" amount.

The health assessment our company gives consists of a blood test (for cholesterol, glucose levels, nicotine, etc), weight (which, I'm pretty sure is calibrated incorrectly), height, and waist size. The first year went off pretty swimmingly, and even included company-paid counceling if you needed to improve your health in any way.

Then the sentiment around the office changed. Smokers realized they were being set up to fail the exam based on the points accrued for nicotine. Spouses who wanted to be on the health plan had to be tested starting in 2009, which many felt was too invasive. And, rumors abound that Human Resources was getting a hold of the test results which would have been in direct violation of the confidentiality agreement we signed when testing began.

Now, many employees try to find any way around the testing. Some have their doctors write notes. Others go on their spouses plans which are less intrusive. And a select few decided it was worth paying the extra money not to have their company perform tests on them.

This is a big issue. Companies need to make sure this type of process is a trustworthy one. If the information is shared, it not only violates laws and the agreements that employees entered into, but also creates friction between HR/management and employees. With soaring healthcare costs, many companies are looking for fair ways to reduce costs and this seems like a good one on the face. But unless a company can get voluntary buy-in from the employees, it's a system that is doomed to fail.

-Andrew

The Most Stressful Jobs (and other links)

Here on this Wednesday, as I get my health assessment done, I wanted to share a few links:

-From CNBC, we have America's most stressful jobs. Certainly quite a few on there that none of us would want to have. And, as Human Resources, some good jobs to know that fellow employees might be quite stressed at.

-11 Points gives us a top 11 list of famous people who were in the totally wrong career at age 30 showing all of us that career switches are possible.

-Although many of us cannot relate, Vault has some advice on how Tiger Woods' experience can help your career.

-Lastly, from Mike D. Merrill Blog, a new feature from LinkedIn which lets you follow company profiles.

Back tomorrow with some more great links (and maybe a thought or two from my health assessment)

Getting Rid of the Performance Review

I wrote earlier this week about changing the performance review scale, but the Wall Street Journal via Yahoo! Finance has an even better idea: eliminate performance reviews completely (H/T Sarah). The article's opening is a great call to arms:

It's time to finally put the performance review out of its misery.

This corporate sham is one of the most insidious, most damaging, and yet most ubiquitous of corporate activities. Everybody does it, and almost everyone who's evaluated hates it. It's a pretentious, bogus practice that produces absolutely nothing that any thinking executive should call a corporate plus.

And yet few people do anything to kill it. Well, it's time they did.

Just because everyone hates it, though, doesn't mean it should go. The ability to evaluate employees keeps everyone honest--including the reviewer, the reviewed, Human Resources, and upper management. Everyone hates it because it isn't fun to judge other people but like Valentine's Day reminds us once a year to say "I love you" when we should be doing it every day, performance reviews reminds us once a year that we should be giving constructive criticism, even though we should be doing that all the time as well. The key is to do it in a way that achieves a maximum comfort level for everyone involved and gets to a positive result.

Changing the Performance Review Scale

Recently my company sent out an e-mail: we are changing our performance review system in 2010. Specifically, we are moving from a three tier rating system to a five tier one.

The old one had to go. The only three things that a manager could write for an employee were "below expectations" (which normally would get you canned), "exceeds expectations" (which Human Resources highly discouraged anyone to use) and "meets expectations". Everyone--for the most--part got the latter grade. It made no sense.

Now we're moving to a 5-point scale. Excellent, great, good, average and below average (paraphrasing here because supposedly this is proprietary information). This is still extremely rigid, but it at least gives managers some flexibility. Some.

It's good to know we're moving away from an antiquated system, but I believe it's a system that can still be improved. What grades does your company allow on performance reviews? How closely does this grade tie to bonuses and promotions (ours is almost solely based on it)? Leave some ideas in the comments below.

-Andrew

Astronology - How to Deal:Difficult Employees

Astronology Volume XI Issue 4   April 20, 2010 Dear Andrew, Astron Solutions provides high-quality, low-cost, innovative human resources consulting services to organizations like yours. Call us for advice, innovative program design, and user-friendly Web/PC based software.   Fact or Fiction New York was at one time the Nation's capital. FACT! In 1789 The United States' first president, George Washington, took his presidential oath on the balcony of Federal Hall. Today, you can visit many historical sites in lower Manhattan, including the Alexander Hamilton US Custom House and Fraunces Tavern. If you find yourself in town, please be sure to stop by Astron's offices! We'd love to say hello in person.   The Astron Road Show On April 23rd, fresh after Income Tax Day, Jennifer will present to the Human Resources committee of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA) on the concept of Total Rewards. The FAE Conference Center (3 Park Avenue, at 34th Street, in Manhattan) will host the event. Attendees can also dial in through a teleconference number. CPAs can earn 1 CPE hour for attending! For more information, please contact Pei-Cen Lin, Chair, HR Committee, NYSSCPA.   How to Deal: Difficult Employees Starting with today's issue, Astronology begins a new three-part series called How to Deal. To kick things off we're exploring the topic of difficult employees. What do you do when your most productive employee is also someone who causes the most headaches when it comes to other aspects of organizational cohesiveness such as teamwork and communication? Instead of finding ways to terminate the employee, understanding the root of the problem and attempting to help alleviate the isolated issue can be a more effective approach....more   Have a Question? If you have a topic you would like addressed in Astronology, or some feedback on a past article, don't hesitate to tell us!  Simply reply to this e-mail.  See your question answered, or comments addressed, in an upcoming issue of Astronology. Looking for a top-notch presenter for your human resource organization's meeting?  Both Jennifer Loftus and Michael Maciekowich present highly-rated sessions on a variety of compensation and employee retention issues.  For more information, send an e-mail to info@astronsolutions.com.   The Fine Print We hold your e-mail address in trust.  Astron Solutions promises never to share or rent your personal information.  We also promise never to send you frivolous e-mails and will allow you to leave our list, at your option, at any time. To remove yourself from this list, please follow your personalized subscriber link at the bottom of your Astronology alert e-mail. Copyright 2010, Astron Solutions, LLC ISSN Number 1549-0467 Quick Links Client List Meet the Astron Team Contact Us   World of HR Blog Bringing you Human Resource news from around the globe...compliments of Astron Solutions. More

 

Working On TV: 24

A lot of times on the Astron Blog, I'll refer to the working conditions on a TV work environment. But this series will finally explain what I'm talking about. The first show we're going to review is the soon-to-be-completed FOX hit, "24".

On 24, the main work environments are the governments as a whole and moslty CTU (a fake government unit known as Counter Terrorism Unit). These government agencies have been home to some of the more egregious Human Resources violations. Each season there are moles within various agencies, showing a complete lack of a screening process. I've often joked with friends that all you have to do is check a box that you're not a terrorist and you're cleared--no questions asked.

There is also a ton of instances of office fraternization and nepotism. Secret (or not-so-secret) relationships are the norm and people like Kim Bauer and Morris O'Brian have seemed to be granted jobs just because they have a relative in the office. And in Morris' case, this was a costly relationship for CTU.

But the worst treatment of people in the office are to women. Only one woman has ever been the head of CTU and she was quickly ousted by a man (played by "Rudy"'s Sean Astin) as soon as her motherly skills forced her to become unfit to do her job.

We do have a woman President currently, but this past episode showed women still have a huge glass ceiling to break through on the show. Two were women were promoted this past episode. The first was Dalia Hassan who took over for her recently-murdered husband. The thought was "hey, she's not as qualified, but what the heck"...she'll just be a great "martyr's wife" as the female American President referred to in the episode.

Chloe O'Brian was promoted in CTU only because the man in the position before her was inept at his job. And yet it was made to seem this was unfair. Yet, the guy she was taking over for, Hastings had recruited Dana Walsh (the season's biggest mole), let her leave during the crisis (to do shady things) and didn't punish her when she came back, didn't stop any of the terrorist activity in New York, let an EMP into CTU which crippled the infrastructure, let Cole Ortiz and Dana run rampant with their relationship, almost let a woman (Renee Walker) take all of the blame for his mistakes, let Arlo sexually harass all the female employees, berated Chloe, still hasn't discovered that he has a dead man in his office panel, let nukes be transported all around New York, failed to protect a foreign leader--President Hassan-- from two assassination attempts, lost countless men and women and data hours...so let's definitely make sure everyone apologizes to him for his raw deal when the much more qualified woman takes over.

Oh and people who are of a different ethnicity, especially Asians, Russians and Middle Eastern people should all be thought of suspiciously because they could definitely be a mole.

The world of 24 is not the World of HR--it's a nightmare for Human Resources professionals.


-Andrew

Back From Vegas With Great Links

Just got back from a quick vacation in Las Vegas with a picture from the top of THEhotel at Mandalay Bay from my Blackberry (to the right) and some great links (below):

-Yahoo! HotJobs starts us out with some truth about resume lies and some advice to people looking for jobs about how to make the truth sound better (H/T Wendy). There is some good advice in here for Human Resources about how to treat resumes and how other people define "embellishment".

-This is not something for Texans to be proud of from WFAA:

In one of the largest civil rights investigations ever undertaken in Texas, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission declared that at least 100 African-Americans worked in a hostile environment and were subjected to racial graffiti, nooses, and symbols of hate while employed by Turner Industries in Paris, Texas.

-Harvard Business Review asks if all employees are knowledge workers? One bolded point from the article: "Perhaps the single greatest lesson from Japanese auto manufacturers is that all employees are ultimately knowledge workers and that the role of the firm is to both encourage and support problem-solving by all employees."

-Lastly, Simply Hired Blog has the winners of their Dream Job Contest. I like the most creative: "Rainbow Chaser and Pot of Gold Location Expert, also skilled in the identification of Silver Linings"

People I Work With: The Little Generals

Next up in our fun little series is "the little generals". It's not just people with a Napoleon complex (but many times are people with some sort of inferiority complex). It's anyone who runs around the office like a general. It always has to be their way, right away...or else. They don't listen to others speak or really care what they have to say--they are right and everyone else is wrong, so why bother? Worst of all is that they usually are they least productive and most inefficient because they don't leverage their co-workers or consider other opinions.

This person is not just the worst type of person to work for, but they're also the worst to work with. And it leads to a lot of trouble in the office. These people talk down and over everyone else. No one wants to approach them for help and many issues end up not getting solved because of their stubbornness. They are the worse type of office bullies--and they usually end up making the wrong decision.

How does Human Resources deal with these people? Well the first thing to do is to make sure that the office environment is not one that breeds these. Telling someone to always take control is not always the best decision. Sometimes these people just need a talking to. They're intimidating even for Human Resources, but no one should have free reign to talk down to everyone else in the office. You want employees to be right--but you don't want them to think they're the only one right all the time. And you certainly can't afford them bullying everyone else in the office. The less "little generals" you have, the better your "army" of office workers will run.

-Andrew

Astronology - The Interviewing Process: Do You Know the Rules?

Astronology Volume XI Issue 3   April 6, 2010 Dear Andrew, Astron Solutions provides high-quality, low-cost, innovative human resources consulting services to organizations like yours. Call us for advice, innovative program design, and user-friendly Web/PC based software.   Fact or Fiction Spaghetti Trees exist. FICTION!   As many of us know, spaghetti is pasta made from semolina or flour. However, back in 1957, the BBC hit show Panorama ran a 3-minute April Fool's joke for its viewers. The program aired a fictional story of a family in the south of Switzerland harvesting their own spaghetti from spaghetti trees. The segment was complete with spaghetti on trees, and family members plucking spaghetti from the trees. Back then, spaghetti wasn't widely eaten in the UK, and so hundreds of viewers called in to either deny that such trees existed, or to inquire about growing their own spaghetti trees. CNN refer to the stunt as "the biggest hoax that any reputable news establishment ever pulled." We hope that there weren't too many April Fool's pranks at your workplace last week!   The Astron Road Show On April 23rd, fresh after Income Tax Day, Jennifer will present to the Human Resources committee of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA) on the concept of Total Rewards. The FAE Conference Center (3 Park Avenue, at 34th Street, in Manhattan) will host the event. Attendees can also dial in through a teleconference number. CPAs can earn 1 CPE hour for attending! For more information, please contact Pei-Cen Lin, Chair, HR Committee, NYSSCPA.   The Interviewing Process: Do You Know the Rules? As we draw closer to summer, and the higher education spring semester draws to a close, many HR professionals recognize that the time has come to prepare for the upcoming flood of applicants for full-time jobs and internships. Are you up to date on the rules for conducting job interviews? Or are you playing the role of the interviewee and don't know the Do's and Don'ts of interview etiquette? In this issue of Astronology, we will review the rules of interviewing - for individuals on both sides of the table....more   Have a Question? If you have a topic you would like addressed in Astronology, or some feedback on a past article, don't hesitate to tell us!  Simply reply to this e-mail.  See your question answered, or comments addressed, in an upcoming issue of Astronology. Looking for a top-notch presenter for your human resource organization's meeting?  Both Jennifer Loftus and Michael Maciekowich present highly-rated sessions on a variety of compensation and employee retention issues.  For more information, send an e-mail to info@astronsolutions.com.   The Fine Print We hold your e-mail address in trust.  Astron Solutions promises never to share or rent your personal information.  We also promise never to send you frivolous e-mails and will allow you to leave our list, at your option, at any time. To remove yourself from this list, please follow your personalized subscriber link at the bottom of your Astronology alert e-mail. Copyright 2010, Astron Solutions, LLC ISSN Number 1549-0467 Quick Links Client List Meet the Astron Team Contact Us   World of HR Blog Bringing you Human Resource news from around the globe...compliments of Astron Solutions. More